WASHINGTON — When Mitt Romney arrives Thursday at the gates of Teton Pines, a majestic Wyoming country club where captains of industry flock each summer to golf on an Arnold Palmer-designed course, his purpose will be greater than spending another evening separating rich people from their money.

Romney will be taking a big step toward becoming the official head of the Republican Party, as the presumptive presidential nominee is feted at a $30,000-a-couple dinner at the home of Dick Cheney, the living thread connecting the past five Republican presidencies.

By hosting a fund-raiser for Romney, the former vice president — who in his retirement remains a powerful leader of foreign-policy neoconservatives — will make his grandest gesture so far to pass a torch to Romney.

A slate of prominent conservative rainmakers is joining Cheney in hosting the event.

Romney advisers characterized his relationship with Cheney as cordial, but no deeper than the one any elder statesman would be expected to have with his party’s presidential nominee. They speak infrequently, and advisers said there is little evidence of Cheney’s influence, or that of Cheney’s close associates, on Romney’s policies or politics.

Romney also has a distant relationship with former President George W. Bush. The two speak occasionally on the telephone, but some advisers who bridge the Romney and Bush-Cheney campaigns said Bush is conscious of not wanting to intrude on Romney.

‘‘This does not look to me like Bush-Cheney redux,’’ said former congressman Vin Weber, a veteran of the Bush-Cheney campaigns and a senior policy adviser to Romney.

‘‘At the broader advisory level, everybody who was around Cheney and Bush are around Romney,’’ Weber added. ‘‘They want him to win. And it’s inevitable that they’d have some influence, because they have the most recent Republican expertise in running the government. But I don’t see a lot of overlap there.’’

Jesse Jackson Jr. under treatment for mental health

CHICAGO — Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. is under ‘‘intensive medical treatment’’ for a mood disorder, his office said Wednesday, more than a month after the Chicago Democrat took a medical leave of absence.

The statement gave no details about where Jackson was being treated. Staff members said the statement is from Jackson’s physician but that the doctor’s name and location would not be released because of federal privacy laws.

‘‘He is responding positively to treatment and is expected to make a full recovery,’’ the statement said.

His office said reports that Jackson was being treated for ‘‘alcohol or substance abuse’’ weren’t true.

Jackson, 47, went on medical leave June 10, but his office did not disclose it publicly until weeks later. Staff members initially released a short statement saying Jackson was being treated for exhaustion.

Jackson’s spokesmen did not return calls seeking more details on the statement Wednesday.

Politicians won’t be allowed at 9/11 events this year 

NEW YORK — Politicians will be excluded from speaking at this year’s Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony at ground zero, following a year in which families have expressed concern that political struggles are hindering progress on a 9/11 museum at the World Trade Center site.